In which Amber has an adventure

It would be fair to say that Amber is not an adventurous cat.  She is large, plump and indolent, with her main interests in life being sleeping, eating and being combed (a bit like J minus the combing).

But last night I was just going to bed around 11:30, and as usual I did a check of the kitchen to make sure the cats had food and everything was turned off.  I had last seen Amber about 30 minutes prior to this, and as I bent over the food dishes, I heard her meow.  Glancing round, I could not see her but the complaints grew louder.  Under the table; no Amber.  In the cleaning cupboard; no Amber to be seen but she could most certainly be heard – and the meows sounded as though they were coming from under the cooker.

I went to get R, who had just gone to bed and who is a cool head in a crisis.  Between the two of us, we concurred that she was indeed somewhere either under the cooker or the cupboard next to it.  But how had she got in there?

R was down on his knees examining a very small hole at the base of one of the cupboards “This is the only hole” he said “How on earth did she squeeze down there?”.  “There is a big hole at the back of the other cupboard” I replied.  He ignored me and went on calling for her.

“She must have gone down the back of the other cupboard” I said “There is a huge gap at the back”

“They are not connected” he said definitively and went on calling and flashing a torch down the small hole.

“How on earth are we going to get her out?”  I asked “We are going to have to take one of the cupboard backs off”.

While we were discussing this, Amber suddenly emerged from the cupboard with the big hole.  She did not look pleased and shot off up the stairs.

So that was Amber’s big adventure – nothing on some of the things her predecessor Tora got up to – he was always going into other peoples’ houses and getting shut in (once for three days).  But not bad Amber for an old lady.  Not bad.